SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's soccer team opens the 2021 season this week with three non-conference matches.  The Pirates will host Carleton (Minn.) on Wednesday before hosting Fontbonne (Mo.), Lawrence (Wis.) and Whitman over the weekend.

Fans are once again permitted at the Whitworth Soccer Field.  See the link for the fall attendance policy. Live statistics and video links are available to the right.

The Pirates: Whitworth (3-7-1 in 2020-21) played a pair of exhibition matches last week in preparation for the start of the season.  The Pirates lost to Northwest College 5-2, but defeated Eastern Oregon 4-0.  Both of those games were official contests for the opponents, who are members of the NAIA.

Whitworth is experienced at all levels of the field.  Up front, the Pirates return six players with on-field minutes from last season, led by Dominic Gusman who topped his squad with three goals and two assists.  Victory Loyola had a pair of goals.

Veterans Ethan Kem and Johnathan Guglielmetti anchor an equally experienced midfield.  Guglielmetti had two goals and three assists last spring.

Jose Bautista and Andyn Maldonado anchor the defense, while Bo Broyles has two years of experience starting in goal.

The Opponents: Carlton College is in Northfield, Minnesota and a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  The Knights' entire 2020-21 season was cancelled by COVID-19.  The team went 14-5-1 in 2019 and advanced to the championship of the MIAC tournament.  Whitworth and Carleton have never played in men's soccer.

Fontbonne Univesity is located in St. Louis, Missouri.  The Griffins are members of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SLIAC).  Last season Fontbonne finished 6-9 overall and 5-6 in the SLIAC, which was a big improvement on 2019 when the team went 4-14-1.  The Griffins are picked fourth in the SLIAC preseason coaches poll.  Whitworth and Fontbonne have never played in men's soccer.

Lawrence University is a member of the Midwest Conference and is located in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Lawrence is another team that did not get to play in 2020-21.  The Vikings went 8-8-1 in 2019 and are picked to finish fifth in the MWC preseason coaches poll.  Whitworth and Lawrence have played once previously.  The Pirates defeated the Vikings 4-0 on September 4, 2004 in Spokane.

The Coach: Jeremy Payne, a talented and highly accomplished young coach, enters his second season as men's soccer coach at Whitworth University in 2021.

Payne is a graduate of Messiah College (Pa.), where he was the NSCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014. Following graduation from Messiah, Payne became a graduate assistant coach at Eastern University (St. David's, Pa.) in August of 2015 and served in that role for two seasons before he was promoted to head coach in March of 2017. He led the Eagles to a 42-17-5 record and two Division III tournament appearances over the last three seasons.